


Cute Hair

by jeejaschocolate



Category: B-PROJECT 鼓動＊アンビシャス | B-PROJECT: Kodou Ambitious
Genre: Akihabara, Anxiety, Character Study, Dating, Difficult Childhoods, Fantasizing, Feelings, Holding Hands, Kissing, M/M, Masturbation, Mentions of Sex, Navigating relationships, OCD, Self Confidence Issues, Touching, otaku culture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-06
Updated: 2016-09-06
Packaged: 2018-08-13 09:10:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7971271
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jeejaschocolate/pseuds/jeejaschocolate
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Hey!” Mikado called after him. “Cute hair! Looks nice.”</p><p>Kento blushed up to his ears.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cute Hair

**Author's Note:**

> Alternate title for this story: How Mikado and Kento realize that they would work together. Mostly because of Kento's hair.
> 
> Hello again! Back with a somewhat non-conspicuous pairing? The fandom is still pretty new so I think anything is fair game still. But I love Kento so much--especially after Episode 9 (which, spoilers up to that episode, btw) when we got some of his backstory. And Mikado needs way more love than he gets in the show. 
> 
> I think they do make sense together. Here's how I see it! :) This story is a bit on the longer side because these characters don't have any interaction really in the show, so I had to set some of that up. I really enjoyed writing it though. Enjoy.

Kento strolled in the front door to MooNs’ shared flat. Kazuna told him automatically (with little emotion attached) to make himself at home, but Kento just shrugged in response. 

There was no way he’d be comfortable here.

It was a rather large loft apartment (big enough to house five men, anyway), and Kento had been there before. Still, imagining five bedrooms lined up along a wide hallway, or maybe futons stashed in odd places around the apartment…how did MooNs manage to live with each other like this?

Needless to say, the THRIVE members did not share an apartment. They lived in the same building, provided by Daikoku-san, but they each had their own individual living situation. 

Just as well, Kento thought. And good riddance. He might be able to live with Yuuta, but Goushi…yeah there would be too many arguments for it to be livable.

Yet somehow the MooNs members managed to pull off living as one big happy (? were they happy?) family. Five roommates altogether. 

What did they do when one of them brought a girl home? Kento wondered. Did they give each other privacy, acting like college roommates did and accepting the inevitable “sexile”? Did they tease each other in the morning? Did they…? 

Kento shook his head and shrugged internally. He had no idea how it would work to have five guys living together, each bringing back a date for the night when the need arose. As for himself, Kento brought a new girl back to his apartment at least twice a week. That was just how he did things: Two girls a week on average, comfortable one night stands. No phone call the next day, just a single text a few days later thanking the girl for her time. Smiley face, wink-y face. See you around! 

Not. 

Kento had no interest in commitment. He had never brought the same girl home twice. That would be crossing a line into some kind of relationship and Kento was way too busy to make that work. Relationships didn’t interest him. Sex, companionship for a night…that was easy. And good.

But…probably not something a roommate would put up with. So Kento had never had one of those—least of all someone he also worked with professionally! It was kind of mind boggling to imagine a situation like that. Someone who knew how he really lived, all the little things about him, someone who might see him in the morning before he did his hair…yeah, nope. Not going to happen. 

Well, more power to MooNs, Kento thought, for being able to pull it off. Or whatever.

“Let’s go to the recording studio,” Kazuna said, wordlessly passing a glass of water to Kento out of politeness. “It’s in the back. …You remember, right?” 

Kento had worked privately with Kazuna and some of the other MooNs members before. They recorded the background music for some collaborative B-pro songs. Sometimes Kitakado worked with them, sometimes Korekuni. But by this point, Kento and Kazuna were comfortable enough with each other to be able to hammer out a song in basically one go. It was convenient and easy, no one was complaining. Kento appreciated the so-called “leader” of MooNs for being able to focus single-mindedly on one song for hours, just like Kento could do. He liked getting the work done quickly so that he had more time to himself afterwards, to do whatever he liked. (Namely, to do the things he had become an idol for. This week he was on a roll: One date a night—three dates already he’d had this week! And another lined up for that night…) 

So Kento took a polite sip of water and got ready to work. Kazuna strolled ahead of him into the recording studio down the hall. Alone, Kento took out his trusty compact mirror and checked his bangs one more time. He knew that they didn’t need to be _perfect_ right now—meaning, he didn’t have to take out his ruler and measure them. But they did need to be passable—he was going to be in front of people, idols no less, even if it was just MooNs. 

Sighing softly in frustration—his bangs weren’t falling the way he liked, they were slightly bushier than usual for some reason—Kento forced himself to shrug it off and get to work. He could fix them later, at home with his hair products in front of his big mirror, before his date that night. After all, the date mattered more than this…this was just some run of the mill work stuff…he would be locked up in the recording studio the whole time anyway. No need to have his bangs be _perfect._

Taking a deep breath, Kento closed his eyes and counted to ten. It was the best way to calm the surge of anxiety he felt in times like this, when he couldn’t get his bangs in order. Keeping his eyes firmly closed, Kento put the mirror back in his pocket and turned on his heels towards the hallway. He would just follow Kazuna down to the studio, think about work, think about how much fun he would have tonight, think about anything else…keep his eyes closed if he needed to—

Out of nowhere, Kento tripped over something and almost fell flat on his face. He caught himself on the wall at the last second, thankfully, but his socked foot was stinging painfully from where he had stepped on something small and pointy. 

“Nooooo….!” A muffled cry resounded from somewhere near Kento’s right side.

He turned to see who it was, still reeling from the shock and sudden pain. What he saw was a green pile of something human-shaped, bent over and sobbing. Kento frowned and stood up straighter. From the brown hair, he already knew who it was. If that weren’t enough, there were small anime figurines strewn all over the hallway. Some figurines were propped against the wall, some peeking out behind doorways, some just laying there in the middle of the hallway!

“Noo….” Mikado sobbed, clutching a purple witch-shaped figurine that was currently bent in half. “…Look what you did to Mamirin, Ken-san….” 

The blue-haired idol sighed. He rubbed his toes from where he had stepped on and tripped over Sekimura’s figurine. Damn, that thing was small but the witch hat was surprisingly sharp…

“You shouldn’t leave those things in the middle of the floor then.” Kento scolded. He stretched his toes a few times to ease the pain.

Mikado turned to look up at him, face contorted in sadness. “B-but…Ken-san…my Mamirin…look at her, just look!” He held up the figurine—bent beyond repair—for Kento to see the damage.

Sighing, Kento shook his head. He hoped Sekimura wouldn’t ask him to pay for the broken figurine—he knew some of those things were expensive! Besides, it wasn’t his fault Mikado had just carelessly put his things anywhere he liked, exactly where people needed to walk! Even if Kento’s eyes had been closed at the time…but still…

Mikado rubbed the witch figure against the side of his face. “Ahh, Mamirin, I’m so sorry this happened to you! You’ve died such a graceless death. A pointless sacrifice, not for the good people of Noxfloria, but because of sheer carelessness! You poor, poor, sweet girl…”

Seeing how upset Sekimura was—(were those actual tears in his eyes?)—Kento started to feel bad. He was in Sekimura’s apartment after all, this was his place, the guy could do whatever he liked in his own home (no matter how weird it was)…and Kento really should have been more careful…

“Uh, so…” Kento said, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. “I mean…how much is it…? I have some cash on me, or I could…pay you back later…”

Mikado’s cries suddenly stopped. His expression turned on dime, like flipping over the side of a coin. Now he was smiling happily. He looked up at Kento with his green eyes shining behind his glasses, mouth curved into a graceful smirk. 

“Oh, don’t worry about it, Ken-san,” Mikado said. “I actually have plenty more of this one—the season two Mamirin third advanced form model. It’s pretty common.” His smile brightened. “But thanks for the offer! That’s really nice of you.”

“Uh…sure…” Kento replied, frowning, not sure what to make of all this. 

“Now, if it was this one—” Mikado’s hand touched a model near the doorway, a red-haired anime girl wearing a long white robe with a long staff in her hand. “—then we would have had a problem. Ysgardia-tan is a super rare figure, especially this one, the season four model!” Mikado picked up the figure and rubbed it against his cheek lovingly. “But, thankfully, Ysgardia-tan is safe! So no worries."

Just as suddenly as before, Mikado’s face changed again. This time into a serious expression. He stared hard at Kento’s foot. 

“Sorry about your foot, though, Ken-san! Are you alright?” 

Without warning, the anime-obsessed idol dove upon Kento’s foot. He picked it up with both hands, forcing the blue-haired man to catch himself on the wall again before he lost balance.

“Where does it hurt? Here? Or here?” Mikado started poking the sole of Kento’s foot in random spots. 

That actually…kind of tickled. No one ever just touched his foot like this! What the hell?! Kento mashed his lips together to keep from making a sound, even though he wanted to burst out laughing or at least cry out from the weird feeling. 

Doing that, though, letting himself be seen in such a state, was totally against his image. So there was no way he’d let himself—

“Oh, maybe here, Ken-san?” Mikado rubbed the underside of Kento’s toes. 

“Ah!” Kento cried out despite himself. Even through his sock, Kento could feel Mikado’s fingers rubbing an untouched part of him, the sensitive side of his toes. The fingers were gentle, but…the touch sent a weird shiver up his spine, complete with goosebumps and a rush of something…tingly. 

“Hey, stop!” Kento jerked back, pulling his foot out of Mikado’s grasp. 

The brunette stared up at him, looking surprised. “Oh, sorry Ken-san…” he said slowly. “Did that hurt?”

“No, it’s…” Kento knew he was blushing. For some reason. He rubbed his shoulder to ease away the goosebumps, feeling like he was on display here. Why was Mikado looking at him like that? “Just…enough already…” he mumbled. 

Mikado tilted his head, eyes narrowing slightly. He looked Kento up and down shamelessly, as if working out some puzzle. He was obviously thinking hard Confused. 

Kento hated to be scrutinized. He fought down his blush and opened his mouth to tell Mikado to just forget the whole thing—

Then, Kazuna appeared in the hallway. Finally coming to investigate. He surveyed the scene and immediately said, “Do you really have to do that in the hallway, Mikado-san?” 

“Ah, Leader!” Mikado called out brightly. “Of course I do! I was recreating the scene from Witch Girl season five, episode twenty-two. My room is too small for the cliff scenery so I had to come out here. Once I get the picture I can post it on my blog, a lot of people are waiting for me to post—”

“Alright, alright,” Kazuna conceded, closing his eyes in defeat. “Just…make sure you warn people next time, okay? You’re in the middle of the floor.” 

“Yes, Leader!” Mikado said, saluting brightly. Kento wanted to sigh in frustration at such a display, but he was still feeling…out of sorts. 

Kazuna turned back to Kento. “Come on. Let’s get started.” He beckoned the other man to follow him and retreated again to the studio. 

Nodding, Kento carefully side-stepped the rest of Mikado’s figurines. He had no intention of saying anything else to the brunette, just wanted to pretend all this craziness had never happened--

“Hey!” Mikado called after him. “Cute hair! Looks nice.” 

Hearing those words, Kento blushed all the way up to his ears. He turned around slowly, but Sekimura was already back at work rearranging his figurines.

Feeling how hot his face had become, Kento said nothing and walked down to the studio. He was blinking rapidly and he had no explanation for the way his heart had skipped a beat just now. 

As soon as he sat down next to Kazuna, the blonde man noticed something was off. “Hey, you feeling okay?” he asked, eyebrows wide. After all, when did Kento ever look flustered…? 

“I’m fine, I’m fine. Let’s just get this done.”

Damn it all, Kento had only come here to work.

_______________________________________________________________

The whole time he was in the studio, Kento had a hard time focusing. Normally he was able to get in the zone and just work straight through, but this time…he could barely offer Kazuna anything other than some nondescript acquiescence. A small “yes” or a nod, scribbling down some music on composition paper. He couldn’t bring himself to actually add any substance to the music this time.

His mind was wandering…

Why the hell did Mikado collect that anime stuff in the first place? He was a grown man, right? Witch Girl was a show designed for elementary and middle school girls. Or maybe…men with a creepy fetish. Did Mikado have a fetish like that? Was he really a creep down? (Weren’t all anime otakus kind of creepy, anyway?)

For some reason, Kento didn’t think so. Mikado was weird—sure—but he wasn’t creepy. His love for Witch Girl and things like that was kind of…innocent in some ways. A guy with a fetish would try harder to hide his interests. Mikado was so ridiculously open about his love for anime that there was no way he had anything to hide. Maybe Mikado loved Witch Girl in the same way elementary school girls did. Or maybe, in his own way. For…whatever reason. 

But still, wasn’t that weird?

Kento scribbled more notes onto the composition paper, shaking his head as he thought. 

Yeah that was definitely weird behavior for a guy. But then again, they were all idols. Idols were far from normal people. Kento felt he was unequivocally the most normal one of the bunch, but even then he had his…things. He knew he did. 

It was just…so hard to fight his anxiety sometimes. The only way he could calm the nerves clawing their way to the surface was to do what he always did. Things that _worked_ for him.

Besides, Kento knew he looked damn good. And he was happy with that.

Mikado was another story. That guy was just a freak, probably. A good singer, a professional, a decent idol, but a freak.

…So why did Mikado have to stare at him so intensely? 

Kento hated being stared at with anything other than pure adoration. He made sure to flirt with anyone and everyone (he liked women, but if he could win over a man with his charms, all the better for him in the long run) so that the only thing he got from people’s eyes was love. Crushes. Admiration. Women wanting to sleep him, men wanting to be him. …That kind of thing.

Mikado did not fall into either of those categories though. He looked like he wanted to figure Kento out—like there was some secret there, some reason he had pulled away from him so suddenly. Why did Mikado even care? He had no right to care. He was just a guy playing with anime figurines who had no reason to care if Kento was hurt or if he felt anything at all—

And why had he complimented his hair? 

Even though Kento made _absolutely certain_ that his hair was perfect at all times, he rarely ever got compliments on the way it looked. Kento told himself this was just because other people were jealous, but in reality…he was not sure why. Maybe people saw how hard he worked and were afraid to say anything either way? Maybe his hair had become such a fixed aspect of his image that no one even noticed anymore? 

Maybe…it didn’t really look that nice to begin with and Kento was just fooling himself…Fooling himself like always…

No. No way. Kento shook his head hard. No, he looked great. Anyone would tell him that—the girl he was seeing tonight would surely say those exact words. 

But a direct compliment to his hair? Kento had not been given one in a long time. Mikado was the first in…quite a while. Maybe ever. 

It made Kento feel…weird. His chest felt floaty, like the bones there were suddenly lighter for some reason. He wondered if he saw Mikado again, would Mikado say anything about his hair? Did Kento want him to? Well, compliments were always nice and this one seemed to really hit home for some reason, so…yeah. 

But probably there was no way. Mikado had just said that as an off-hand comment, not even really focusing on Kento at all (was Mikado even really looking at him? Kento’s bangs were being unruly at the moment so obviously not). Probably didn’t know what else to say so he just threw out a standard compliment. 

Didn’t matter. 

Kento shrugged and fought the urge to pull out his compact mirror again. He brushed his bangs across his forehead instead, a small check. Still bushy, but the same as before. 

He sighed in relief.

Yeah, he just needed to go home and give himself a makeover before tonight. That was all he needed.

After they finished recording, Kazuna showed him out through the front door, as always. They passed through the living room on their way and Kento saw the rest of MooNs eating dinner from convenience store bento boxes, all crowded around their shared television. They were watching some drama that Kento didn’t recognize, but from the snippets of conversation, Kento could tell that MooNs knew the story inside and out. They laughed, taking bites of food and then calling out to the screen in surprise or in joy whenever one of the actors said something particularly outrageous. Nome and Hikaru nudged each other the whole time, talking loudly about a bet they had on the show. Momotaru nodded and picked studiously at his food, while Mikado was surely the most excited of all to see the characters on display. 

They looked happy together. Kento stopped and stared for a small moment.

Hikaru called over to Kazuna, catching him up on something that was going on in the show. Nome held up an unopened bento box, saying that it belonged to Kazuna whenever he was ready to eat. The leader just nodded and confirmed he would be along shortly. 

“Would you like to join us?” Kazuna asked, turning towards Kento out of the blue.

Actually, they had never invited him to eat with them before. The idea ran through his mind that he might just sit down and stay for a bit, if only to watch the ridiculous show MooNs put on when they were enjoying something. 

But then he remembered he had a date. He would need to go home and start his beauty routine as soon as he could in order to be ready in time.

“Sorry, no thanks. Maybe next time.” Kento waved casually, heading towards the door.

“I bet Ken-chin has a date tonight!” Hikaru cried in a singsong voice. The rest of MooNs whooped soundly. 

For some reason, Kento’s eyes flicked over to Mikado to see how he would react. Unsurprisingly, the brunette was laughing and smiling along with the rest of them. He looked like he didn’t even remember what weird thing passed between them that afternoon. How Kento had sort of lost it—kind of, not really, barely at all actually—when Mikado touched him. 

And why should he? Kento thought. He nodded. This was just what he expected to happen.

So, after another round of waves, Kento left the apartment quietly. 

It took him closer to two hours to get ready that night. Longer than normal, but nowhere near his longest (in the past, it had taken him almost half a day to prepare, with close to three hours just on his hair alone). Two hours was nothing, actually. Not when he thought about the alternative—looking less than his best when he was out in public. 

Surveying himself in the mirror one last time before he left, Kento forced a smile. It kind of hurt when he tried to smile that big. He was better off with his usual half smirk. 

So he settled on that.

____________________________________________________________

The next morning, Kento woke up alone is his king-sized bed. He could tell by the warmth on his face that it was already late morning. He also knew (had known this from the moment he got home the night before), could feel it everywhere, that he was totally alone. 

He counted to ten before opening his eyes. The sun greeted him warmly and Kento took a deep breath to ward off the lingering anxiety.

In truth he hated waking up alone. That was why…well, it was one of the reasons why, anyway…

He sat up, realizing he had fallen asleep naked for no particular reason. Why exactly had he not taken that girl home last night? It broke his streak! Besides, with a parting like that—so anticlimactic, literally—she was likely never to call again. Not that Kento would have called her either, but…it felt like he had been the one to be dumped first. 

He hated that too.

No. Kento got to his feet and started the exhausting process of his morning beauty ritual. No, she had asked him more than once to come back to her place (“My sister is out right now, so we’ll have the place to ourselves!”) and had even imposed upon him by asking if she was allowed to go over his place (“I just can’t help but wonder what Kent-san’s place looks like!”). Each time he turned her down gently. 

Or…relatively gently. Probably.

So, in that case, she was the one to be dumped. He rejected her first. So that was fine then. If you were to search him for a reason, well, he didn’t exactly have one, but oh well. Maybe she just wasn’t attractive enough. She really had bored him during dinner, talking his ear off about her sister and her sister’s kid. What was she, their full-time nanny or something? (Actually he vaguely remembered that being true.) What was interesting about a girl like that?

Besides, he had been going out with the same type of girl for a long time now. Slim, big-chested, good fashion and beauty sense. Knowledgeable about idols, but not idol-worshippers (they were too easy). Beautiful. Nice. Relatively smart. 

No flaws. 

Kento sighed, cuticle-scissors halfway to his bangs (he always used cuticle-scissors for trimming, so he could cut each hair one at a time). To be fair, the girl last night was the same. She had no flaws, no matter how much Kento wanted to pick her apart as an excuse. 

Maybe he was just getting tired of that type. Like someone eating the same meal every night. That made sense. 

But then what else should he try for? A non-cute girl? A heavier girl? Someone who knew nothing about idols and just liked him for his…personality? 

Kento almost laughed out loud. No. First of all, he could not be seen with a girl that was anything less than a full-blown beauty. Second of all, what kind of personality did he have to show a girl? Kento worked hard to perfect his image as the collected, easy-going guy. Underneath that though…there was not much to speak of.

Or at least, not much he was comfortable showing anyone else. 

(Being himself was what had gotten him in trouble when he was younger. Being the kid who would go up to others and ask to play with them, only to get rejected because he smelled bad and had a weird accent…growing up overseas without a mom taking care of you was rough. So eventually he avoided other people altogether, only to get picked on for being alone all the time. He could never win when he was acting like his true self.) 

So yeah, no. He would stick to his type. The pretty, goes-to-mixers type of girl. Keep everything the same. He was in a good place for once, didn’t want to risk losing that. 

…But could he even get it up for that type of girl at this point? Kento wondered as he mixed together the ingredients for his breakfast smoothie (fruit, kale, a splash of protein powder, no carbs). 

Lately, he had been inviting girls over and having to masturbate in the bathroom beforehand just to get hard enough for sex. It wasn’t that bad, really, Kento reasoned. He didn’t mind doing it. But it was a little weird. Normally just touching a girl and taking off her clothes was enough for him to get it up. Still, over the past few weeks he had been having some…troubles, for the first time. He found himself now having sex like basically just going through the motions, relieved when he finally achieved orgasm because then they could be done. 

If he were being totally, one hundred percent honest with himself (never a really great thing to do), Kento had to admit: The thing he looked forward to the most about inviting a girl back to his apartment was not the sex. His favorite part was holding her close to him as he fell asleep, pressing his nose against the back of her neck and breathing in the comforting smell of another person. Waking up in her warm arms the next morning.

Kento never felt more calm than he did in those moments. 

Then, finally and only when he knew it was getting late, he would slip out of bed to fix his hair before she woke up. After that it was on to his regular routine. At night, Kento could look forward to finally being fulfilled. Not just his dick (although sexual fulfillment was nice and all), but the rest of him too. Even more so. Sometimes he wished he could ask if she was alright not having sex with him and just skipping to the sleeping, but then…no girl would say yes to that. Who stayed over someone else’s place just to cuddle all night? Weirdos, probably. 

He didn’t want anyone thinking he was weird. 

Kento took a big swig of his breakfast smoothie, ignoring the bland mushy taste. He put on some loud music to ease the creepy quietness that settled over his apartment whenever he was alone. He thought back to when he was a kid, waking up alone whenever his mother left him for days on end…back then, he used to prop up his stuffed animals around the dinner table like they were family, to help the weird sinking feeling he felt being alone in their dirty apartment. Even now, he was not used to being alone in the mornings. 

The blue-haired idol smiled ironically. Should he do the same thing now that he did when he was a kid? Maybe he could borrow some of Mikado’s anime figurines and lay them around, talk to them like they were people with their own personalities…

“Tch.” 

Kento listened to THRIVE’s latest album and took a deep breath. He was fine. He looked great. He smelled fine, he was cool, people wanted to hang out with him. He would go out again tonight and find another girl. This time he would make sure to bring her back to his place no matter what.

Last night was just a mistake. Wouldn’t happen again.

_____________________________________________________________

Every few months, there came the inevitable time in Kento’s life when he ran out of hair products. It was a dark time, to be sure. Plus, he could not control whenever he ran out because he used his products so sporadically—basically whenever he needed them, which was all the time. So, every so often, about once a month, Kento needed to drop everything else going on in his life and spend a day off the grid restocking his supply. 

It was inconvenient. And the worst part of it all was the place he needed to go to find his particular brand of product: Akihabara*. 

He found the place by word of mouth, over the internet. People were chatting about where they went for hair products and someone mentioned a cosplay shop in Akihabara. These were apparently standard places—stores you could go to buy costume supplies for dressing up like anime characters. One level in these cosplay shops was always dedicated to hair treatment: Wigs, products, dyes, whatever. And one of these particular stores happened to carry a brand that made Kento’s hair look the best—a brand he could not find anywhere else (not even through online ordering).

So he was locked into it. Once a month he needed to make a discrete sojourn to Akihabara in Tokyo, home of the otaku and nerd culture in general. 

Kento always went in somewhat of a disguise (he could not be seen wandering around Akihabara like some weird anime geek). He wore dark sunglasses, along with a wide-brimmed sun hat. He put on uncommonly baggy clothes, with a denim jacket over everything—shit, he hated denim. Hardly ever wore it. But this way it would be hard for anyone to recognize him, especially paparazzi, but even more so someone he knew. 

So, the day arrived, and Kento went out to procure his supplies like always. He stocked up on gel, volumizer, texturizer, conditioner, spray, and dye (yes, it was true, Kento dyed his hair in some places, using as close to his natural color as he could. It gave his hair the effect of having layers without looking fake at all). When all was said and done, he spent close to 50,000 yen** and walked out of the store with three big bags full of products. 

On the busy streets of Akihabara, Kento wondered if he should go straight home or stop by the idol worshipping store. He never bought anything there, but it was interesting to see which idols had the most worshippers and which rarified merchandise sold out first. (B-pro and all its members had yet to appear in one of these shops for more than CDs, but they were getting there. Some day.) He walked in the direction of the store, thinking absent-mindedly about which idol would be in the lead—

“Ken-san?” 

Kento stopped dead in his tracks. He knew that voice, damn, he knew that voice…

Footsteps ran up to him from behind. “Ah! It is you! Ken-san, how’s it going!” 

Fighting down a surge of immediate panic that he had been recognized, Kento slowly looked over to the brunette currently crowding him, the glasses face leering up at him in happy surprise and excitement. His heart was racing in shock, but he would not loose his cool over this, not here of all places! 

“…Mikado…” Kento said quietly, shuffling into an alleyway so they were not in the middle of the street. His hands were shaking. “Wh-what are you doing here?” 

“Me? Oh, I come here every Saturday!” Mikado proudly held up a small bag that looked like it held something thin inside. “Studio MX releases its promotional material for the upcoming episodes on Saturdays, and since I’m a VIP subscriber, I get a poster for free!” His face was positively beaming as he clutched his wrapped poster proudly. He added, “Subscriptions are 12,000 yen a month though…”

“12,000 yen a month?” Kento said automatically. Just for a poster? What a rip off! But then…he glanced down at his own bags of expensive product and wondered if he had any right to judge.

“Yup! So what are you doing here, Ken-san?” Mikado asked, just as brightly. As always, his intelligent green eyes searched the other man ruthlessly looking for some kind of explanation.

The blue-haired idol sighed. He lowered his sunglasses for a moment to regard Mikado fully. “Look, Mikado-san…how did you even know it was me?”

The brunette looked taken aback. “Oh, were you supposed to be hiding in plain sight or something? Is that some kind of…cosplay or something…?” 

“No, no it’s not!” Kento rushed to say. “This is just…I just wear this sometimes when I need to come here.” 

“Oh yeah?” Tilting his head in curiosity, Mikado shamelessly pulled open the plastic bag in Kento’s hand, peering inside at its contents. Kento pulled back instantly, once again shocked at how comfortable the other man was breaching intimacy boundaries.

“Cool, looks like cosplay stuff!” Mikado smiled confidently back up at him, not disturbed in the slightest. “So who are you dressing up as, Ken-san? Who’s your favorite character?”

Kento clicked his teeth in irritation, already feeling himself break into a blush. “It’s not…for that. I don’t do that. This is just…regular products for my hair.” He said the last part fast and low, hoping beyond reason that Mikado wouldn’t ask him to repeat himself. 

And surprisingly, Mikado did not. He just nodded in mild interest. “Oh, I see. Looks like you got the premium stuff. Nice!” 

Kento sighed, feeling tenser than anything that he had been caught. Now someone else knew his secret about what kinds of products he used! Damn it all… And Mikado had seen him wearing these ridiculous clothes, his hair only part of the way done because he was running low on product. The other idol probably thought Kento looked like a complete idiot…

But, in contrast, Mikado looked perfectly at ease. He seemed to be in a great mood (although to be fair, he always did). Like running into Kento in Akihabara was the most natural thing in the world. Or at the very most, a pleasant surprise.

“Look…” Kento began, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. “…Don’t tell anyone you saw me here, okay?”

“Hmm? You want to keep this a secret?” Mikado asked, his mouth curling into a mischievous smile. 

“Yeah, I do. I’ll…owe you one, alright? Just…this stays between us.” 

Kento was now blushing horribly, his face hotter than ever. It felt like he was asking Mikado to conceal some secret love affair—but a love affair would have been something Kento could be proud of! Not this…his beauty secret. (If only Mikado were half as embarrassed to be seen on the streets of Akihabara, but the other man was not even trying to hide his identity, just walking down the street like it was any other day.)

Mikado shrugged, throwing his hands up in the air. “Sure, if you want. I won’t tell anyone I saw you here, Ken-san. I promise.”

“…Thanks…” Kento muttered, glancing to the side. He was waiting to hear the conditions of the promise (please don’t be anything too embarrassing, he prayed, not some kind of punishment game…). 

“And you don’t owe me anything, alright? It’s not a big deal.” Mikado slapped him on the arm playfully, making Kento sway on his feet, unprepared. “But the next time you’re planning on coming here, let me know! Then we can go together. I’m always looking for a reason to stop by the figurine store that has a whole case of Witch Girl stuff….” 

Mikado’s eyes glazed over happily. He blinked, fixing himself, and stared back at Kento. The blue-haired idol thought he saw another slow smirk ghosting around the other man’s lips. But then Mikado was speaking again, “You know the one I’m talking about? Want to check it out now?” 

“N-no, that’s okay.” Kento shook his head. “I’ll just go home for today…” 

“Alright! I’ll go with you, then. We can stop for lunch on the way! I know a great sandwich shop down the road…” 

Without asking for permission, Mikado latched onto Kento’s arm with both hands and began dragging him in the direction of the shop. Kento flinched yet again at the proximity (remembering how weird it was when Mikado touched him the last time, on his toes of all places). He had not agreed to get lunch with Mikado, but the brunette was acting like he said yes all the same.

Still…Kento could not believe Mikado wasn’t asking for anything in return for keeping the secret. Or maybe…this lunch was the condition? Either way, he would have to do whatever Mikado asked for the rest of today at least, just to be on the safe side. 

So, taking a deep breath, Kento allowed himself to be pulled into the cafe. As he suspected, the whole shop was full of nothing but carbs, so there was very little for him to eat. He finally settled on a plain seaweed salad he found in the refrigerated section. Mikado, meanwhile, bought a yakisoba bun and a cream-filled roll cake for dessert. He ate all of it, too, right in front of Kento, who picked at his salad uninterestedly. 

“That’s all you’re eating, Ken-san?” Mikado asked around a mouth of roll cake. 

“Uh, yeah,” Kento replied, putting down his fork. “I usually just have a protein shake for lunch, so…” 

“Really?” Mikado swallowed and tilted his head again. Once more, those green eyes ran all over Kento. “So maybe next time we can get that instead…though, I don’t like the sound of it, to be honest.” The brunette shuddered at the thought. 

“It’s healthy…” Kento said, shrugging to relieve his tension. 

“Mmm…” Mikado stretched out his hand in ‘so-so’ motion. “I guess. But you should eat real food from time to time, too, know? So you don’t get hungry while you’re rehearsing.” 

Kento didn’t like being lectured. He gestured with his chin in the direction of Mikado’s meal. “Aren’t you worried about the calories in that, though? It’s a lot of carbs and sugar.”

At that, Mikado laughed out loud happily. “Eh, you’re right, Ken-san. This meal wasn’t exactly the healthiest. But I let myself have one unhealthy meal a week, and I usually save it for Saturdays! This way I can have fun when I’m in Akihabara.” 

Actually, that made some sense. One unhealthy meal a week wasn’t that bad, in the long run. So, Kento nodded, saying nothing in reply as he watched Mikado lick the cream off his fork. It sure seemed like the other man was enjoying his cheat meal….

“You want a bite?”

“What?” The question startled Kento out of his thoughts. 

Smiling, Mikado scooped another piece of roll cake onto his fork and held it out to Kento. The blue-haired idol froze, unsure how to answer. Girls liked cake, and they often offered Kento a bite of their dessert on a date. But he didn’t know how to accept it other than by eating it seductively (wrapping his lips around the fork and licking his lips with a confident smirk). If he were to use that move here, now, with Mikado…that would just be weird…

“Go ahead! Don’t worry, I’m not sick or anything, so we can share the fork.” 

Oh, right, that too. They would basically be sharing an indirect kiss like this… Usually in a situation like this, Kento would hold onto the girl’s hand and say he was more than happy to share such a thing with her…but that only happened on dates!

He and Mikado weren’t on a date right now. …Were they…? 

But, either way, Mikado was holding out the fork to him without any kind of expectation on his face. Not as a flirt, not because he wanted Kento to take his bait and prove he was interested…Just because he thought it might be something Kento would enjoy eating. 

And he probably would enjoy it.

Shrugging his shoulders, Kento took the fork from Mikado’s hand. He swallowed the cake without a show, just chewing on it normally. The sweet cream rolled around his tongue—the first genuinely tasty thing he had eaten in some days. It sent a wave of chemical happiness across his body and he smiled. Genuinely enjoying the moment. 

“Good, huh?” 

Kento looked back at the other idol and nodded. Maybe he should have a day where he ate one unhealthy meal, too…or maybe just one unhealthy thing. At least a bite of something. 

The smile on his lips stayed there the rest of the afternoon, and Mikado’s green eyes seemed to twinkle a little more than usual.

___________________________________________________________

After lunch, Mikado dragged Kento around Akihabara some more. 

“Oh, look! This arcade has the new Doki Doki game! Let’s try it out, Ken-san!” 

And so, Kento was pulled into the flashy, throbbingly loud world of Akihabara arcades. The lights gave him a headache and the music from the games was so noisy Kento was surprised someone did not complain—but it seemed that volume was normal in these kinds of places. Everyone’s game was obnoxiously loud. Kent could hardly keep himself focused, there were so many things going on. 

He played Mikado in a few one-on-one rounds of video games, Mikado calmly shouting the rules to him over the din. Kento had never played video games before, but he had fun with the rhythm games. Actually, he was pretty good! Even better than Mikado on some of them, which made him feel ridiculously proud. (Mikado stomped his feet jokingly saying that it wasn’t fair, just beginner’s luck, but Kento could tell Mikado was also legitimately having fun.) 

Of course, Kento had to take his sunglasses off when they went inside because the arcades were poorly lit to begin with. But, he supposed it would be fine. There was no photography allowed in the arcades anyway. 

At some point, Kento eventually forgot that his hanging around Mikado might have been some kind of punishment game. They just felt like two friends spending an afternoon together. It was all…strange. But fine, really.

After trying out Mikado’s favorite game on each floor, the brunette eventually led them down to the first floor to play the old school crane games. Kento remembered kids from his middle school competing at games like this, then bragging later about their prizes. But Kento had never actually tried one himself.

“Oh my god!!” Mikado squealed. He pressed himself up against the glass on one of the crane game’s display. “They stocked this one with Mahou Danshi mugs and plushies! I can’t believe it! These are super rare!!”

He turned back to Kento with a look of pure determination on his face. “Aizome Kento.” His voice was serious and deep, like a narrator’s in an anime. “We will win one of these prizes tonight. Or else, we will have to face the loss of our very manhood itself and cry bitter tears.”

Kento snorted a laugh before he could stop himself, covering his mouth too late. He shook his head in disbelief, not sure what kind of face to make in response. He saw that Mikado was starting to smile himself now. So clearly the guy was just joking around.

What a dork, Kento thought. He laughed again, more dignified this time, and said, “Sure, we’ll win the thing, okay? We got this.” 

“Yes!” Mikado cried in English, like a high schooler. He stuck his hand out in front of Kento’s chest. “Shake on it?” 

“Yeah, whatever,” Kento said with a broad smile. Mikado was too much! 

But, he did shake his hand. For a moment, the music from the arcade was drowned out by a heavy pounding in Kento’s ears. Mikado gripped his hand so tightly. The brunette’s soft skin was betrayed by the muscle underneath, clearly a grown man’s hand. His green eyes practically bore a hole into Kento’s face, he was staring at him so intensely. Was this promise that important or was Mikado just messing with him…? 

Either way, Kento almost fell forward when Mikado let go to try his first round on the game. The blue-haired idol needed to blink himself back to reality. His hand felt warm where Mikado had held onto him, almost…tingly. It was weird. Why was he just standing there like an idiot, gaping at Mikado while the other guy went to town on the crane game? 

To cover up his own awkwardness, Kento stood next to Mikado, shoving his hands in his pockets. One of them was still unusually warm, but…Kento shoved the thought to the back of his mind. He couldn’t afford to think about weird things, or whatever the hell was going on with him right now. 

He was out with Mikado. 

They alternated turns on the crane game, wasting coin after coin on fruitless tries. The crane was temperamental and hard to control. Finally, just as Kento began to think the game was rigged to be impossible, he managed to hook the edge of a plushie around the crane.

“Ah! So close, Ken-san!” 

“I know, I know!” 

The tension hung thick in the air and Kento’s whole body focused on dragging that plushie the last few millimeters into the hole…Just a little more…

Suddenly Mikado wrapped his body around Kento’s from behind, covering the hand operating the controls with his own. He strained to see over Kento’s shoulder, breathing heavily in the other man’s ear. They were pressed against each other, flush against the machine. 

A surge of heat flooded Kento. He was red to his ears again, unable to move despite the situation.

Together—or rather, mostly Mikado, by way of Kento’s hand—they forced the crane to carry the plushie the rest of distance. At long last, it dropped into the hole. The machine broke out into a chorus of lights and music, congratulating them on their win.

“Victory!!” Mikado shouted, clutching the Mahou Danshi plushie to his chest and jumping up and down like a kid. “Way to go, Ken-san! You’re the best!” 

“…Actually…” Kento began to say. In truth, Mikado had done most of the work at the end because the THRIVE artist completely froze. But Mikado was too excited to listen to any of that right now. 

And Kento was way too flustered to argue. Why wasn’t his damn blush going away? And why did he feel like he had just shared something way too intimate with Mikado—like they had just kissed or something?

Really, nothing like that went on. Mikado just got a little too close because he was excited about the game. That wasn’t anything. A virgin wouldn’t even blush at that, nonetheless Kento who had done far more than kissing with quite a lot of people…. But here he was, stammering and stuttering like a middle school kid who had just held hands with his crush. 

Ridiculous.

Kento said nothing as they walked home, just let Mikado drone on and on about how he was so happy they won the prize and how much fun he had at the arcade. It was already nighttime, Kento could barely believe it (good thing he had not scheduled any dates that night…he hadn’t, right?). 

Eventually they reached the apartment building MooNs lived in. They stood outside the door to the lobby, waiting to say goodbye to each other (wait, was this date? Had they actually been on a date this whole time? Kento's head was spinning). 

Mikado’s face broke out into a grin. “You know, you never took that hat off, Ken-san. Isn’t it uncomfortable?”

Kento touched the brim of the hat self-consciously. Oh yeah, that. He probably looked stupid, too.

“It’s…because I couldn’t fix my hair today…” Kento admitted without thinking. “So I put this on instead.” 

Mikado chuckled again. “Okay. But you know it’s nighttime now, people don’t usually wear hats. Are you going to take it off?”

Wanting to clutch the hat on instinct, Kento forced himself to keep his hands at his sides. Stay cool. “No, no. I’ll just wear it until I get home.” 

“Hmm.” 

A moment of stillness passed in unusual silence. Kento had a feeling something was about to happen…

Sure enough, moving as fast as lightning, Mikado reached up and snatched the hat off Kento’s head before he could be stopped. Kento screamed automatically, instantly pulling the hat out of MIkado’s hands and jamming it back on his head. 

Shit! His hair must look terrible! He hadn’t put much product in it that morning, and the whole day went by without him touching it up. He had barely even thought about his hair, in truth… Holy hell, he must look so awful! Why would Mikado do something like that to him…?

But instead of laughing or making fun of him, Mikado just let out a long breath as if in amazement. 

“Wow, your hair looks really good like that, Ken-san!” 

For his part, the blue-haired idol could not even say anything. He was beside himself with anxiety. All that came out were a few stuttering sounds.

Mikado smiled warmly, nodding his head as if finally understanding something. “I guess you’re just naturally cute, huh, Ken-san?”

“…Wha…?” The fuck was Mikado talking about?

“Sorry for doing that to you by the way,” the brunette continued. “I just thought this might be the only time I get to see you without any product in your hair. So I went for it.” 

“D-don’t…just…” 

Kento wanted to yell at him, to tell Mikado he would never forgive him for doing something like that. But the words wouldn’t come out. In his own mind, he couldn’t get passed what the other idol had just said to him. 

Mikado thought he looked…good like this? That he was naturally cute?

…What?

“Anyway, good night, Ken-san!” Mikado waved goodbye and walked up to the door. “I really did have a lot of fun today. Make sure you text me next time you go to Akihabara! Or…actually…” Mikado paused for a moment as if thinking. “You can text me anytime to hang out, okay? Um so, thanks! Bye!”

Just like that, Mikado went inside, leaving Kento alone with his whirling thoughts. The blue-haired man used all his strength to force his feet to move and walk himself home. He could not wrap his head around any of what had just happened that day. His mind felt…tired. He had done too many weird things (eaten a roll cake, wandered around Akihabara, played arcade games all day, hung out with Mikado—all these things!) for him to feel normal. 

When he got home, the idol stripped down to nothing and stared at himself in the mirror. Sure enough, his hair was wild and ugly, untamed. He didn’t even want to look at it. The rest of his body was the same as always, though, trim and cut. His eyes looked a little bloodshot from staring at screens all day. 

This was fine. He just needed to add a few steps to his beauty routine the next day. He would look great tomorrow. 

_“I guess you’re just naturally cute, huh, Ken-san?”_

Was Mikado crazy? He thought Kento looked good like _this_? Without anything? That didn’t make sense. No one looked good naturally, least of all Kento who needed to keep up with his beauty obsessively in order to be able to go out in public. 

…And why did Mikado have to say ‘cute’? Couldn’t he say handsome? Or sexy? Beautiful, even? Cute was…a weird thing to say to a guy. 

But there was no denying it. Those words made Kento feel light and airy. He felt…great. Thinking that Mikado had spent the whole day with him even when Kento looked his worst—beyond that, the other man wanted to see him again! Anytime, he said. And that wasn’t a cop out like Kento might have used; he said it deliberately in a way such that meant he actually did want Kento to text him. 

…Mikado was definitely a weird one. No question. But Kento had fun with him. And Mikado made Kento feel good about himself for the first time in…ever. 

That night, Kento put on some music and went to bed alone. He imagined Mikado’s arms wrapped around him again, just like they had been at the arcade. How would it feel to share a bed with that guy? To sleep next to him the way Kento liked to do with his girlfriends? Would it feel just as good as it had that afternoon? Better? 

Probably. Kento wanted to find out.

_______________________________________________________________

The next day, Kento got a text from Mikado asking when he could hang out again. So pushy! Normally, Kento never texted a girl the day after a date on principle, no matter how good of a time he had. There was some unspoken rule about that, wasn’t there? 

Apparently Mikado had never heard of that rule, because he texted Kento the following day as well when Kento didn’t respond. Damn it, you were supposed to wait three days! But after that second text, Kento broke down and answered him. He hated to think of Mikado checking his phone and cheerfully waiting for a response, only to get nothing. So, fine, he gave in. 

They agreed to go for bubble tea at a place Hikaru recommended. That guy had a pretty good sense for delicious things, so Kento was fine with it. 

He spent over an hour getting ready that time. Would have taken longer, but Kento was afraid he would be late. Showing up late on the second date was normally fine, a way to keep the other person on their toes, anticipating…but this time, Kento was afraid Mikado might just lose interest and forget the whole thing. That would have been…kind of a letdown. So, he showed up on time.

It was great, even when Mikado started doing anime girl impressions with the thick straw from his bubble tea. So embarrassing, people stared at them. But Kento couldn’t hold back his laughter at those silly (kind of accurate?) voices. 

The next time they went out was a few days later, to a bookstore Mikado was excited about. Apparently they had a good manga section. Kento normally didn’t have the patience for reading, but he went and actually picked up a manga that was fairly interesting. (So there was a kind of manga for adults called ‘seinen manga’? Actually, it wasn’t bad. The characters were believable, the plot was interesting. Better than some movies, anyway. Or just as good.) 

The time after that, Mikado suggested they go out at night to a club. He loved to dance, the brunette explained. Kento did too (plus, he hadn’t been to a club in some time…when was the last time he had gone out on a proper date with a girl, again?) so he agreed.

Kento reasoned that this was technically their fourth date. (If they were dating, that is.) And well…Kento had never gotten to a fourth date with anyone else before (normally it was over by three, maximum). So he didn’t know the protocol. He had, however, been to many a club in the Shinjuku district so he knew well enough what to expect there. 

The blue-haired idol showed up in Kabuki-cho with his hair fixed in place with tons of gel, wearing a revealing outfit that only the most confident playboy could pull off (complete with avant-garde chains and buckles hanging off the ends needlessly). 

Mikado showed up wearing his usual glasses, a buttoned down plaid shirt, and some shorts.

Seeing each other outside the club, they both immediately burst out laughing—each of them thinking the other looked ridiculous. When it became clear what was happening, they stopped laughing, regarded their own clothing choices another time, then started laughing again. 

They looked ridiculous together. Could there have been anything weirder? But the whole thing was actually hilarious. Kento laughed every time he looked at Mikado, making the brunette smile goofily in return. 

It didn’t matter, Kento decided. He had no control over what Mikado wore. Besides, Kento thought he himself looked good, and Mikado told him more than once that he felt the same way (“That outfit looks great on you, Ken-san!” “Wow, where do you get your clothes? They fit you so well!”)—which made the blue-haired idol blush behind his well-done bangs. 

Actually, when Mikado danced, Kento thought Mikado looked great too… He just seemed so natural, without a care in the world. Like he was meant to enjoy himself and he wanted to do just that. Kent was fascinated by him!

At the same time, he envied him. 

After dancing and drinking enough for one night, Kento and Mikado walked home together. They were acting a little sloppy, having drunk perhaps more than they should have. But it was just the two of them. Honestly, they were so used to laughing around each other at this point that it didn’t even feel wrong. 

Then, when the conversation died down, Mikado silently slipped his hand into Kento’s. He laced their fingers together, clasping the other man’s hand gently but so, so warmly. 

Kento tripped over his words, wondering if he should pull away. He really didn’t want to.

Mikado looked back at Kento with a smile on his face. “Is it okay if I do this, Ken-san?”

“…Yeah…” Kento replied finally. 

Yes, it was fine. More than fine. Kent’s hand tingled the whole way home. He wanted to walk a little slower to Mikado’s apartment, but then his mind conjured up images of spending the night Mikado’s bed, tangled up together. His heart leapt in excitement and then Kento wanted to walk faster. 

Torn, they just walked at a normal pace. Kent took a deep breath and let himself enjoy the moment.

…Right up until they got to Mikado’s door. Instead of inviting him in, Mikado leaned up, kissed his cheek gently, and said good night there. He went inside, leaving the blue-haired man alone again. 

Kento was stunned. Why…didn’t Mikado want to spend the night with him? Didn’t he want something else? 

Actually, Kento had not ever really considered what sex would be like with Mikado. (He’d had sex with men before, a handful of times. Mostly out of curiosity, and then later for the smug satisfaction that came with knowing he could seduce people on both sides of the fence.) He often imagined the snuggling part, which he wanted quite badly, but not the sex. 

Now that the idea permeated his mind though…shit. Kento’s cock leapt in his pants as he thought about Mikado, naked and spread out on his bed, laughing and telling him he wanted more. 

( _“Ah, Ken-san, come on…I’m feeling so good right now…”_ ) 

Wow. That got him hard, alright. Just the image alone.

So, before going to bed that night, Kento jerked off thinking about Mikado. He didn’t know if it was right or wrong, but he hardly cared about any of that. It felt so damn good. Kento really went to town on himself, too. He rubbed his own nipples and even reached an exploratory finger behind to prod his tight asshole…

Coming with Mikado’s name on his lips made Kento feel weird. Good (so, so fucking good), but weird. 

Why couldn’t he just ask Mikado if he wanted to have sex? He could ask anyone else in the whole world, but not him. Why?

…Because. What would he do if Mikado said no? Then he would be alone again. 

That kind of thing went way beyond ‘letdown.’ Kento would be crushed. He knew the feeling well. He really didn’t want to feel that way again…

Ah, damn. 

Kento laid down and closed his eyes tightly. He counted to ten, that didn’t work. He kept counting, trying to stuff his anxiety down as far as he could. He counted all the way to one hundred and fifty before he was able to breathe normally. 

This was why he didn’t do real relationships. Because there was always this _feeling_ on the edge of everything, constantly worrying if the other person would stay. 

The worst kind of anxiety. And Kento was more used to (and so afraid of) being left.

______________________________________________________________

The following morning, Kento woke up to his cell phone’s melodic ring. He answered it without thinking and was soundly jolted awake by Mikado’s piercing shouts.

“Ken-san! Come over today! I want to watch a marathon of Witch Girl with you, okay? Come on, please! Say you’ll come over! Ken-saaaan?” 

“Alright, alright,” Kento grumbled, shoving the images of Mikado he’d had the night before out of his mind. “I’ll come over around two.” 

“Waaah, so late! Can’t you come any sooner?”

A bewildered smile played on Kento’s lips. Now this? Actually, this was very typical of Mikado but it broke their pattern of texting and taking things slow. 

“Okay, okay already. I’ll be there soon. Just let me make my morning smoothie, Mikado, alright?” 

“Hmmmm…” Mikado hummed, as if considering this. Finally he said, “Alright. But hurry up!” 

With that, he hung up. 

…The hell? 

Kento knew he had no choice but to go. He could hardly turn down such a clear invitation at this point. Even if he was tired and feeling kind of shitty from getting such poor sleep last night (sometimes when he was alone he tossed and turned, waking up over and over again from lingering anxiety. Last night was one of those nights). 

Maybe turning Mikado down would be the smarter thing…just sever ties before Kento got in too deep. But…he really didn’t want to. He didn’t want to give up their small, fun hangouts. Mikado was a person Kento didn’t have to be self-conscious around. That was such a relief…it would be hard to go without that now. (Not impossible, no…but…difficult.)

Whatever. He wasn’t doing anything that day. He could at least go and see what Mikado wanted.

So, Kento found himself in the MooNs apartment for the first time in a few weeks. The place looked the same, but Kento was not used to coming over this early. It seemed like most of the guys were still asleep. 

Mikado’s face beamed with happiness when he saw Kento. “Ah, Ken-san, you’re here, finally! Come on, let’s go to my room!” 

Without warning, he grabbed Kento by the hand and led him through the apartment. Their hands felt familiar together now, after last night. It was a good feeling, even if Kento’s heart was trying to beat its way out of his chest. 

They ran into Nome, who was in the kitchen making himself some coffee.

“Yo, Aizome,” Nome called out. “Morning. What’s up?” 

The purple-haired man seemed pretty nonchalant at the fact that Kento had showed up unannounced for no reason. Which was a huge relief—Kento blushed and tried to keep it together as he thought about explaining how he and Mikado were sort of…dating now. (Were they dating? Was this considered dating, even if they hadn’t actually done anything yet? Did holding hands count? Ugh, what were they five years old?)

“Ken-san is here to watch Witch Girl with me! He said we could have marathon!” Mikado flashed Nome a possessive kind of smile, as if daring the purple-haired man to say anything. 

“Ah.” Nome took a sip of coffee hardly caring about that strange look. “So Mikado’s roped you into this anime stuff too, huh, Aizome?” 

The blue-haired idol sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. Now what did Nome think of him?

“Later, Nom-san!” Mikado said, not giving Kento a chance to reply. He dragged them into his room and promptly shut the door. 

Finally alone, Kento looked around the bedroom Mikado shared with Momotaru. Not surprisingly, half of the room was covered floor-to-ceiling in anime posters. DVDs and original soundtrack CDs spilled out of a small bookcase. There was a decent sized TV and gaming console there as well. On the other side—what Kento could only assume was Momotaru’s side—was totally nondescript. Some books about channelling the spirit world, that was pretty much it. 

Mikado explained that Momotaru would be out the whole day rehearsing for another play he was starring in. It struck Kento that Momotaru was more than a little successful on his own, and he was legitimately happy for the other man (if slightly jealous). 

Then, Mikado promptly put in a Witch Girl DVD and started playing all of season three from the beginning. He had explained the plot to Kento a few times, and he tried to catch the other man up on everything that happened in seasons one and two, but Kento couldn’t really follow it. Plus he didn’t care. It felt good just to sit on the floor next to Mikado as they watched TV. He wanted to lean over and rest his head on Mikado’s shoulder, quietly breathe in Mikado’s soap-fresh scent. Feel the other man’s warmth pressed against him. Just there, comfortable, like always. 

After about ten minutes of Witch Girl, Mikado’s fingers stroked the top of Kento’s hand. Knowing what he wanted, Kento tuned his hand over so Mikado could sneak his own hand inside. Why did this feel so normal, so quickly? Kento wondered how long they could stay like this, Mikado’s hearth-like warmth seeping into his body as they held hands…

“Listen, Kento…” 

The blue-haired idol flinched hearing his actual name. When he looked up, Mikado was turned in his direction, pressing pause on the Witch Girl video without a second glance. 

This looked serious. No trace of a smile on Mikado’s face. And pausing the marathon? Certainly not something he would do lightly.

“I’m…sorry about last night.” Mikado’s mouth practically turned down at the corners he looked so apologetic. “We were both a little drunk and I thought it’d be best if we each just…went home for the night. But then…” 

His gaze flicked up to Kento, green eyes full of wanting and sincerity. Kento almost gasped at the sight—so strong, piercing him to the core. 

“But then…I saw the look on your face, Kento. You looked so disappointed, like you had been expecting me to invite you in or something and I realized…that I should have just let you stay over! I’m sorry, I know I messed up…” 

Mikado reached out and stroked the side of Kento’s face lovingly. It was such an honest gesture that Kento was at a loss for words, yet again. 

“…But I hope you can forgive me. I was drunk, not really thinking straight and I wanted to just be on the safe side at first, so we didn’t do anything we would regret later.” Mikado sighed. “But I did regret it. Last night, all I could think about was kissing you and touching you…it was driving me crazy!” 

The brunette shook his head hard, obviously frustrated. Kento smirked at the sight. (He liked thinking that Mikado had been think about him too…that he could make Mikado sexually frustrated like that…yeah, that was good.) 

“So.” Mikado took a deep breath and looked back at Kento with his puppy dog eyes. “Will you forgive me, Ken-san? Can I have another chance?” 

“Um…” Kento swallowed, telling his heart not to break at how adorable Mikado was being right in that moment. Please heart, he thought. Stay cool. 

“Yeah, it’s…totally fine.” Kento shrugged, pretending to be indifferent. Like he hadn’t gone home, masturbated, and almost cried himself to sleep. “I mean, it wasn’t like a big deal or anything. I didn’t even notice you were thinking of asking me to come in. I just went home and slept, so it’s fine—”

“It’s not fine!” Mikado cupped Kento’s face again, clearly worried. “I don’t ever want to make you feel sad, Kento! Because I love your smile. And I love the cute little laugh that you’re always trying to hide. I want to make you smile more and laugh as much as you can! I want you to be happy with me so…” 

Their faces were very close together. Kento could feel Mikado’s body heat, as well as the heart-felt warmth from his words. He didn’t want to say anything, just wanted to press himself against the person in front of him. To bury himself in Mikado until he couldn’t come out again. 

Kento’s lips shook from the want to kiss him. 

“…Well, I guess you know what I mean, huh?” Mikado said softly. His mischievous smirk was back and Kento sighed in relief. Unable to stop himself, he clutched Mikado’s shoulder, digging his fingers into the fabric. He really didn’t want Mikado to pull away just then…

Mikado pressed their foreheads together. “So can you tell me that you forgive me, Kento? I just want to hear it.” 

“…I…” He wanted to say that he would forgive him if Mikado promised not to do it again. But that sounded so ridiculously childish he couldn’t get the words out.

Then Mikado added, all on his own, “I promise I won’t do it again. Okay?” 

Kento smiled in surprise and happiness. “Alright, Mikado,” he answered quietly. “I forgive you.” 

“Yay…” Mikado whispered. He chuckled happily under his breath and Kento smiled in return.

Then, they both leaned in and kissed. They stayed still, lips fitted together, for some time. Just letting the sensation of being connected through actual intimacy course through each other. Kento’s lips had never felt so sensitive. Also, Mikado’s lips tasted delicious—not like a regular kiss, it was so much sweeter. 

They kissed each other slowly at first, almost hesitantly. Mikado easily took control of the kiss, tilting Kento’s face up by his chin so that the bespectacled man could press down on him from above. It was a gentle but obvious power move and it made Kento moan against Mikado’s lips. 

Mikado ran his hands across Kento’s shoulders. He played along the blue-haired idol’s chest until he found the buttons to his shirt. Then, he confidently started undressing him, as if this is what he wanted all along. 

A man happy with his prize. That’s what Mikado was.

Kento sighed and shrugged out of his shirt. He pulled the t-shirt off Mikado’s body as well, fixated by how natural the brunette looked shirtless. Not that Mikado was so toned—he wasn’t, really. More like averagely fit. But even that look seemed to complete him—again, without even really trying. Kento trailed his fingers all over Mikado’s exposed torso.

Giggling happily, Mikado hopped up onto his knees and immediately straddled Kento’s lap. It took the blue-haired idol by surprise. Mikado’s pace was hard to follow (slow at first, then rapidly moving on to the next thing). But Kento loved every second of it, covered in warmth and the glorious feeling of skin against skin. 

Ah yes, this is what he had been craving. Contact—but not like usual. No, this—what they were doing here—actually _meant_ something. Mikado cared about him, he wanted him to be happy. He didn’t love Kento because of his hair or his style, or even the fact that he was an idol (and a mediocre one, at best, if Kento was being honest with himself). Mikado liked Kento because he liked spending time with him, liked the true part of Kento that shone through everything else. A small speck of honesty that Mikado picked at until he could see everything, all of Kento’s hidden desires rising to the surface. 

Kento buried his face in Mikado’s neck with a moan, trying to focus the overpowering pleasure in his body. Everywhere Mikado touched—his lips, his neck, his chest—felt like a soft caress right on his cock. How could Kento possibly hang on with Mikado acting like this? (Also why did his body seem to come alive all of a sudden?) 

“Wow, Kento,” Mikado said softly, holding the THRIVE idol in his arms and resting his chin atop a nest of blue hair. “I guess I always thought you were like some mega-playboy. But you seem really sensitive right now, very excited…” 

Emphasizing his point, Mikado ran his hand across the demanding, painfully hard bulge in Kento’s lap. The other man grit his teeth, telling himself to withstand it. Please body, don’t lose it yet…

“I’m s-sorry…” Kento began, trying to pull away, but hating to leave the warmth of Mikado’s chest. “I can be more…” (Be more what? Manly? Was there a hope of that at this point?)

“No it’s okay.” Mikado pulled Kento in again, kissing every inch of the idol’s face he could reach. He was trying to smooth away all the leftover anxiety he knew Kento might be feeling. “I don’t mind. I like it like this too…” 

Now Mikado thrust his own hips against Kento’s stomach, letting the other man feel his own thick hardness that was practically bursting the seam of his pants.

Mikado chuckled as he heard Kento’s gasp. “See?” he said, as if his own erection merely proved his point.

Kento moaned in response—shit, what would that thing feel like in his mouth? Kento knew he gave good head…what would Mikado look like on the receiving end of one of his signature blowjobs? 

Ah, god yes. It was all too much, but just right. Kento let Mikado move his body however he liked. He was fine with anything as long as Mikado kept touching him.

Just as Mikado was about to unzip his pants—(finally finally, yes, finally!)—the brunette locked eyes with him and regarded him very seriously.

“Kento.” 

“What is it?” (How did he even have breath to speak at this point?)

“You trust me, right?” Mikado asked, totally serious.

“…Yeah.” Kento blinked, holding onto Mikado’s shoulders for dear life.

“So you’ll let me make you feel good, right?” 

Oh, now Mikado needed him to say the words? Actually…Kento found that he quite liked that. Mikado craved his consent, and Kento had plenty of that to give.

“Yes, of course, Mikado. I trust you. So please…let’s keep going?” 

“Mmm.” Green eyes lit up with sheer fire behind them. “ _Ba-dump._ ” 

 

 

End. (A sexy end.) 

**Author's Note:**

> *Akihabara is a section of Tokyo where you can go for all things collectible. A haven for otakus and anime culture, as well as gaming culture, maid cafes, idol shops. When I went, I had a similar experience to Kento's here--everything was very loud! I got over-stimulated quickly (and I write anime fanfiction for fun, so...yeah, lol.) Also, Shinjuku is the night life section of Tokyo and Kabuki-cho is where the clubs are at ;) 
> 
> **50,000 yen = roughly $500 (sorry, I live in America so I know dollars!)  
> 12,000 yen = about $120 
> 
> Thanks for reading! Love these guys. Stay classy, B-pro fandom!


End file.
